Treasury Accuses Iran of Aiding Al Qaeda

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department accused Iranian authorities of aiding Al Qaeda, and imposed financial sanctions on six people believed to be operatives for Al Qaeda in Iran, Kuwait, Qatar and Pakistan.

Treasury officials provided few details to back up their assertion that the Iranian government, dominated by Shiite Muslim clerics, had entered into an agreement with Al Qaeda, which is predominantly Sunni.

But Treasury officials nonetheless said that they were convinced that Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, who they described as a “prominent Iran-based Al Qaeda facilitator,” was operating in Iran under an agreement between the terrorist group and the Iranian government. “This network serves as the core pipeline through which Al Qaeda moves money, facilitators and operatives from across the Middle East to South Asia, including to Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a key Al Qaeda leader based in Pakistan,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Mr. Al-Rahman, one of the six people who are targets of the Treasury action, is believed to have recently ascended to second-in-command in Al Qaeda, reporting directly to the organization’s new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over after the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/world/29terror.html

[buckrogers1965]

1. Like Iraq aided Al Qaeda?

Sounds like an excuse to start another war now that Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me tw... you ain't gonna fool me again.

[No Elephants]

2. And there's another beat on the drum.